Reidsville, N.C. — Some of America's most fascinating and treasured private homes came out of that magical time before the 1929 stock market crash. The rich were richer, and the reflection of personal tastes and eccentricities in a home design was not only acceptable but sometimes encouraged.

The home of Thomas Jefferson "Jeff" Penn (1875-1946) and Margaret Beatrice Schoellkopf Penn ("Betsy," 1881-1965), known as Chinqua Penn Plantation, is perhaps as eclectic and international a home as one could imagine.

Bill Cissna/Special (ENLARGE)

While the outside is lovely at Chinqua Penn Plantation in Reidsville, N.C., the interior, with a smorgasbord of touches from French to Byzantine to Chinese, is what will really impress visitors.

Bill Cissna/Special (ENLARGE)

A large Pagoda sits on the grounds directly across from the front door of the Chinqua Penn Plantation.

Bill Cissna/Special (ENLARGE)

The initials of Chinqua Penn Plantation's owners, Thomas Jefferson 'Jeff' Penn and Margaret Beatrice Schoelkopf Penn are intertwined on the gates of the estate.

Open on and off for public tours since 1960 while in the hands of the University of North Carolina system, then closed for several years, the home came back into private hands in 2006 and now amazes travelers once again every weekend.

Chinqua Penn's main house was built in the 1920s, when Jeff and Betsy entered into a second and final marriage for each. Both came from successful families, so had inheritances and their own money, too. When they married, they built an expansive home on 1,000 acres, where Jeff raised Holstein dairy cattle.

The naming of the property was a play on words. At that time, the chinquapin, a dwarf chestnut tree, grew widely in the region (though it was nearly eliminated in a 1930s blight). Penn replaced the "pin" in chinquapin with his last name to provide a lasting identity for the land where the couple would live out their years.

A world of influences

The Penns created a pleasant-enough, Y-shaped spread of two stories on the top of a rise, sheathed in native stone quarried elsewhere on the grounds. But because the couple traveled extensively and remained open to divergent cultures, the interior rooms are what make Chinqua Penn unique.

Guests in the 1920s and tourists in 2007 enter through an entry hall decorated with a 15th-century Byzantine mosaic-tile representation of Moses, and the tone is already set. The reception hall just beyond features oak paneling from an English manor home, and then to the right is the spectacular living room with a library above on the balcony level. This entertainment area measures a mere 55 feet by 28.5 feet.

This information is shared with visitors by a tour guide, in this case, Andrea Craven, a granddaughter of Ann Toler, who has been the house's curator since the 1970s.

We quickly learned that the influences in the house were not limited to one place, one style or even one religion. The breakfast room and powder room were painted by a professor from Rome. The Scandinavian-style painted rafters 35 feet up in the living room are echoed elsewhere. There are culturally themed guest bedrooms, while the breakfast room design is borrowed from Pompeii. Some decor reflects mixed Christian themes (Jeff and Betsy attended different Christian churches), but don't be surprised to see Buddha or images from other religions of the world.

Craven pointed out that the Mud Room, where the Penns entered the home directly from horse riding or other possibly dirty activities, perhaps best reflects the wide-ranging interests of the Penns.

"This is probably the most culturally diverse room in the entire house," she said. "There's a Dutch table, African drums, a Spanish birthing stool, a Scandinavian chest used as a bar, a leather cockfighting chair, an Egyptian wine decanter and table, a Zulu war shield and spear, and Greek bull heads and plates."

And that's not everything scattered around the room.

Above on the second level, the popular front guest room was often chosen for its view across the front courtyard and past the full-size pagoda that sits in the grounds.

A peek at what's on tour

But the other four guest rooms delve into the themes common from the Penns' travels. One is the Chinese room. Much of the decor came from a close friend whom the Penns had visited in Shanghai, when plans for the house were still in their formative phase.

The French Room features lace, hat stands and furniture imported from France.

Then, the only two rooms that connect and share a bathroom are the French Empire Room decorated with copy designs from the Napoleonic period, meant for use by adults, and the Italian Room, which could be inhabited by children. It includes, appropriately, a piece of furniture designated as a "pout chair."

Some portions of the house are not open for tours, including the servants' quarters above the breakfast and dining rooms, though a peek at the kitchen is currently included. As additional rooms are overhauled, the new owners, the Phelps family, plan to extend the tour.

At any time of the year, visitors are also welcome to tread the grounds, or stop nearby at the 1 1/2-mile Chinqua-Penn Walking Trail, which has its own descriptive brochure and takes in some of the extensive grounds that were part of the original plantation.

A stroll back down the drive from the house to the Gatehouse (which includes a small gift shop) passes the large gates that "protected" the home.

There, in the shaped metalwork (and elsewhere in the house) is the mark that best symbolizes how closely intertwined in creativity and life Jeff and Betsy Penn must have been. Look carefully, and you can see the "J," the "B" and the "P" of their initials. Somehow, it seems more like the connection of two friends than a stroke of ego. Take a look at this unique home, and see if you don't agree.